Why Him?

Chapter 10: Memories and Explanations

Harry awoke with a start. He'd had a very good dream involving himself and Ginny back at Hogwarts. Then he remembered his birthday gift from Ginny, and he smiled. She did care, or at least he thought so. It gave him hope that maybe, she might come around. He looked at the album for a few seconds, before getting off the bed. He picked up his wand, and gave it a wave. The time, which happened to be 8:43 am, appeared on the wall. He gave his wand another wave then placed it back down. Harry went for a shower, then came back to his room and got changed.

Once he was changed, Harry made his way downstairs. At the table, Ron was tucking into a massive plate of sausages; the twins were deep in conversation with each other, probably about the shop Harry thought; and Hermione was reading The Daily Prophet. She looked up from her paper when she heard someone on the landing, and grinned at Harry when she saw how happy he looked. She made a mental note to ask him what the cause of this sudden change in mood was.

"Morning Mrs Weasley" Harry said. Mrs Weasley looked up from what she was doing,

"Good morning dear, you seem awfully happy, did you enjoy last night?" Mrs Weasley said. Harry simply nodded, grabbed a plate, and took some toast. He sat down, took a bite then looked up to see what everyone was doing. Ron was still eating sausages, oblivious to the fact Harry had turned up; the twins had left the table, and apparated away presumably to their shop; and Hermione was giving Harry a look that clearly said 'I will be speaking to you later'. Harry just smiled at her, as if to say 'Well, if you must'. Harry finished eating quickly, and was making his way upstairs when Ginny opened her bedroom door. When she noticed it was Harry, she went to close it, but Harry spoke up before she managed to get it closed,

"Hey Ginny, can I talk to you later about my…" He couldn't finished his sentence because Ginny interrupted him,

"Sure Harry, err, how about tonight, after everyone has gone to bed?"

"OK, and thank you for the present, it really meant a lot," Ginny blushed, and shut the door. Harry carried on upstairs until he made it to his room. He went in, closed the door, went to the desk, pulled out one of the text books he was thinking of setting and started to make notes for a class.

After about 15 minutes, someone knocked on the door, and entered. Without turning around, Harry said,

"I wondered how long you'd wait Hermione," Hermione looked slightly shocked, but still determined to ask her question.

"So, what's got you in such a good mood all of a sudden? I saw last night, you came back in looking really depressed, and when Ginny slipped in later that night, she looked liked she'd been crying. What happened then, and what's happened now?" Hermione inquired. Harry sighed then turned to face Hermione.

"In order, I'm happy because of a birthday present; I'm not quite sure why she was crying; and what was happening was Ginny ignoring me and being really angry, what is happening now is her saying she only wants to be friends, but I think she just needs some time," Harry said slowly.

"What was the present," Hermione said with a smirk, "And that last part was pretty mature, especially for you Harry," Hermione said surprised. Harry just grinned, and said,

"Yeah I know, I guess you could say that war changes people. We were all forced to grow up in different ways," Hermione just nodded. The pair fell into a comfortable silence, which last for a short while, when Hermione noticed the album.

"Harry, what's that," she said pointing to the album. She noticed Harry smiled when he saw what she was pointing at. Hermione instantly knew this was the present that'd made Harry so happy. He picked it up, and sat on the bed. He motioned for her to sit next to her, which she did. She looked at the leather cover curiously. Harry opened the album, and Hermione whispered,

"Oh," Neither spoke as Harry turned the pages one by one, showing Hermione all of the images inside. When he'd finished, he had a massive smile on his face.

"How did she get some of these?" Hermione asked Harry. He shrugged, and replied,

"I'm going to ask her myself tonight, she suggested we waited until everyone else had gone to bed." Hermione looked at him. "I have no idea why she said then before you ask," Harry continued. Hermione just looked at Harry and said,

"Well, thank you for showing me that, I know it must mean a lot to you. I'll let you get back to your work," Harry looked at her and said,

"You mean a lot to me too you know Hermione. If it wasn't for you or Ron, I wouldn't be here now. I know Ron is great, but you've managed to help me or get through to me when he can't. As you once said, he DOES have the emotional range of a teaspoon," Hermione giggled.

It had been a while since the two of them had spent any length of time together. Since the end of the war, Harry hadn't made himself very approachable or available when he was in a good mood. Between his new job at Hogwarts, and Ginny's changing attitude, Hermione thought it was finally starting to look up for her brother. He deserved happiness after all he'd been through over the years, and particularly during the war. After a while, during which they mainly talked about Harry's new job, Hermione seemed very enthusiastic about it (Harry thought a bit too much and that maybe she should consider a job in the teaching profession as well), Hermione left as she said she had some things to do that day. Harry returned to his note taking.

Harry finally put his quill down and closed the book several hours later. He looked out of the window, and noticed that the Sun had set. He performed the same spell he'd used in the morning to tell the time, and saw that it was 10:09 pm. It was then he realised he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He'd been so immersed in his work that he hadn't noticed. Right then, his stomach rumbled, as if to punish him for not paying enough attention. He figured he might as well go downstairs and get something otherwise he'd be kept awake all night by his body begging for food, he may have been at The Burrow for a while and therefore been fed by Mrs Weasley for a while but his body still hadn't recovered from the significant lack of food he, Hermione and Ron had to suffer whilst hunting Horcruxes.

Harry went downstairs. It was fairly quiet; the only people still up were Hermione and Mr Weasley, both of whom were reading. Hermione had a weighty tome, Harry couldn't identify it, and Mr Weasley was reading a book about Muggle musical instruments. Harry smiled, Mr Weasley would never let go of his Muggle obsession and with the dark times over he'd be able to further satisfy his interests. Harry grabbed a plate then pointed his wand at the bread bin. Silently, several rolls floated out and landed on the plate. He then pointed his wand at a cupboard; the door opened, and out flew a ham. The ham then sliced itself with another wave of his wand. He gathered the slices by hand, Harry enjoyed using magic, but his Muggle upbringing meant he had domestic tasks done by hand ingrained in his brain. He walked over to an armchair by the fire in the lounge, with the plate, sat down and began to eat hungrily. After about 5 minutes, by which time Harry had almost finished, Mr Weasley yawned and closed his book. He bade Hermione and Harry goodnight, and went upstairs. Not long after, Hermione followed suit, although Harry wondered if that was purely because she was tired. Harry didn't really care all that much though, as he was pretty tired himself. He felt his eye lids becoming heavy, and the harder he tried to resist, the heavier they became. He drifted off very quickly.

"Oi Potter," Someone whispered behind him. Harry woke with a start, rolled out of the chair, and was crouching with his wand pointing in the direction of the whisper within seconds.

"Still carry your wand around with you then?" The person asked. The fire was still going, and its dancing light revealed the person standing feet away from him to be Ginny. Harry nodded, and said,

"Old habits of war don't die easily," Ginny just giggled. Harry didn't think it was all that funny, being quick on the draw had saved his life multiple times and it was one of the things he'd developed over the war that he hoped didn't desert him quickly. When Harry's brain engaged enough to realise she wasn't a threat, he relaxed. He got back into the armchair, and placed his wand on the right arm.

"Thank you for the present, you have no idea how much it means to me," Harry started. Ginny just smiled, her resistance to him had been crumbling rapidly over the last few days and they both knew it. "Other than seeing your beautiful face…" Ginny blushed at this, "I wanted to see you because you said you'd explain how you…acquired some of the images in that album." Harry continued.

"I didn't think you'd ask so quickly Harry; I thought you'd go to Hermione first, after all, she knows a lot about magic," Ginny said. Harry looked down in embarrassment. "You've grown up, the old you wouldn't have been so forward," Ginny continued. Harry looked her in the eye, and said,

"War forces you to grow up," Ginny broke eye contact with him, and sat down on a sofa, facing the armchair.

"So Miss Weasley, how the hell did you get some of those? I don't remember there being a camera present at some of those events. I mean, at first I thought you may have had Hermione's help, but I ruled that out earlier as she had no idea how you got them either," Harry said, rapidly. Ginny raised an eyebrow at the Hermione comment, and Harry explained, "She came into my room earlier, and saw the present. I showed it to her. She was curious, which for Hermione is a rare thing," Ginny smirked at this.

"I guess I should explain, to satisfy…Hermione's curiosity," The smirk grew as Ginny made the last comment. "I read about it when I was in the restricted section of the Library in school. I liked the idea, and asked Professor Flitwick about the theory after a lesson. It was a very complicated charm, and I wanted to see how it was done, purely from an academic point of view as far as Flitwick is concerned," Harry looked amazed that Ginny had gone to such lengths to make him a birthday present. "Once I'd learnt how to perform the charm, I just had to choose exactly what I wanted," Harry looked a bit confused.

"What exactly does the charm do?" He asked Ginny.

"It works similarly to a Pensieve. With this charm, you can take a memory, and make an image of it," Ginny said nonplussed. Harry looked amazed.

"That's really impressive magic Gin," Harry said, in a manner fitting the magic.

"It was nothing Harry, I wanted to do it. For you," She said, blushing as she said it. Harry got up, crossed the room, and sat next to Ginny. He pulled her into a tight hug, which she returned.

"You're brilliant, you know that right?" Harry said, as he kissed the top of her head. She raised a hand to his cheek, and kissed him on the lips. It was short, but Harry felt like his life was whole for the first time ever. She broke away from him, and went upstairs, very quickly. Before she disappeared from view, Harry spotted that her blush was more pronounced than at any point in the last 24 hours. He smiled, and went up to bed. He looked at the album, got into his bed, and fell asleep dreaming again, of a certain redhead.